WVC 18 B- 1 - 6
§18B-1-6. Rulemaking.
(a) The commission is hereby empowered to promulgate, adopt,
amend or repeal rules, in accordance with article three-a, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code, subject to section three of this
article.

(b) The council is hereby empowered to promulgate, adopt,
amend or repeal rules in accordance with article three-a, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code, subject to section three of this
article. This grant of rule-making power extends only to those
areas over which the council has been granted specific authority
and jurisdiction by law.

(c) As it relates to the authority granted to governing boards
of state institutions of higher education to promulgate, adopt,
amend or repeal any rule under this code:

(1) "Rule" means any regulation, guideline, directive,
standard, statement of policy or interpretation of general
application which has institution-wide effect or which affects the
rights, privileges or interests of employees, students or citizens.
Any regulation, guideline, directive, standard, statement of policy
or interpretation of general application that meets this definition
is a rule for the purposes of this section.

(2) Regulations, guidelines or policies established for
individual units, divisions, departments or schools of the
institution, which deal solely with the internal management or
responsibilities of a single unit, division, department or school or with academic curricular policies that do not constitute a
mission change for the institution, are excluded from this
subsection, except for the requirements relating to posting.

(3) The commission and council each shall promulgate a rule to
guide the development and approval of rules made by their
respective governing boards, including the governing boards of
Marshall University and West Virginia University. The rules
promulgated by the commission and council shall include, but are
not limited to, the following provisions which shall be included in
the rule on rules adopted by each governing board of a state
institution of higher education:

(A) A procedure to ensure that public notice is given and that
the right of interested parties to have a fair and adequate
opportunity to respond is protected, including providing for a
thirty-day public comment period prior to final adoption of a rule;

(B) Designation of a single location where all proposed and
approved rules, guidelines and other policy statements are posted
and can be accessed by the public;

(C) A procedure to maximize Internet access to all proposed
and approved rules, guidelines and other policy statements to the
extent technically and financially feasible; and

(D) A procedure for the governing board to follow in
submitting its rules for review and approval to the commission
and/or council, as appropriate, except the following conditions
apply for the governing boards of Marshall University and West Virginia University:

(i) The governing boards shall submit rules for review and
comment to the commission.

(ii) The commission shall return to the governing board its
comments and suggestions within thirty days of receiving the rule.

(iii) If a governing board receives comments or suggestions on
a rule from the commission, it shall record these as part of the
minute record. The rule is not effective and may not be
implemented until the governing board holds a meeting and places on
the meeting agenda the comments it has received from the
commission.

(d) Nothing in this section requires that any rule
reclassified or transferred by the commission or the council under
this section be promulgated again under the procedures set out in
article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code unless the rule
is amended or modified.

(e) The commission and council each shall file with the
Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability any
rule it proposes to promulgate, adopt, amend or repeal under the
authority of this article.

(f) The governing boards shall promulgate and adopt any rule
which they are required to adopt by this chapter or chapter
eighteen-c of this code no later than July 1, 2011 unless a later
date is specified. On and after this date:

(1) Any rule of a governing board which meets the definition set out in subsection (c) of this section and which has not been
promulgated and adopted by formal vote of the appropriate governing
board is void and may not be enforced;

(2) Any authority granted by this code which inherently
requires the governing board to promulgate and adopt a rule is void
until the governing board complies with this section.

(g) Within thirty days of the adoption of a rule, including
repeal or amendment of an existing rule, and before the change is
implemented, a governing board shall furnish a copy of each rule
which it has adopted to the commission or the council,
respectively, for review and approval, except the governing boards
of Marshall University and West Virginia University are subject to
subsection (c) of this section.

(h) Annually, by October 1, each governing board shall file
with the commission or the council, as appropriate, a list of all
rules that were in effect for that institution on July 1 of that
year, including the most recent date on which each rule was
considered and adopted, amended or repealed by the governing board.
For all rules adopted, amended or repealed after the effective date
of this section, the list shall include a statement by the chair of
the governing board certifying that the governing board has
complied with this section when each listed rule was promulgated
and adopted.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
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